Removing and Replacing BC underwater with weight pouches

[Diver0001]

I'm going to try to either A) ride it like a bronco or B) place it on my knee. I tried the knee one in class, and it stayed on my knee but I was upside down. If all else fails I guess it is a belt for me.

You can make that work if you don't tip over but if you intend to become a "modern" instructor and teach according to the new open water standards then.... with all due respect, "pinned to the bottom like a hopeless noob in the hope that you don't tip over" isn't the route you want to go; it isn't what you want your students to see and it isn't teaching diving anno 2015. That's the paradigm we're trying to get past. None of that is where you want to be when you become an instructor so I would advise developing a philosophy about it earlier rather than later.

The problem with a belt is that the dive shops tend to have old ones with bad teeth and I've lost a few of them or that they sit uncomfortably.

I don't like heavy belts either. A shop belt also took off the fingerprint on my right ring finger when it snapped shut with 12kg on it years ago. As for bad teeth.... seriously.... Buy a decent one. You're becoming a DM so one thing you need to be modeling to your students is that you buy only *functional* gear that works.

I figure if I am lucky enough to live on a little lake that is clear and shallow I should practice as much as I can so I can dive more while I am down south and train less. Although there may be a new learning curve once I get back in salt water.

Good luck. I know this might have sounded confrontational but I hope it jolts you into looking at the issue from a more open point of view.

R..

 

[Chicken SCUBA]

I'm going to try to either A) ride it like a bronco or B) place it on my knee. I tried the knee one in class, and it stayed on my knee but I was upside down. If all else fails I guess it is a belt for me.

Here is how I've done it. After getting out I "rode it like a bronco". Once it was time to put it on I turned the rig over and held a shoulder strap in each hand below the release buckle. Fins end up in the "air", so to speak. I like to put on the left side first so I release the right shoulder strap buckle which is in the left hand and without letting go with the right hand I shove my left arm through the left strap and do a half barrel roll all at once. Your pulling yourself to the rig and then trying to get under it so it feels weird. If you get it on the first try you should end up horizontal with your rig on your back once again holding you down and one shoulder strap on. (caution if you over shoot the roll, the rig will fall off your back and jerk hard so keep that strap holding hand tight) Now you get your waist buckled up. last you dig the remaining shoulder strap from behind your shoulder (this is why you un-buckled it) and find the lower half. Click and some adjusting and your done.

This if for floating in space. If your on the bottom you wont need to go through all this trouble you just can't set down your BCD. One last note, I was using a swivel for my second stage hose where it met the first stage. If you don't and your set up like most people you will need to do it right hand first to keep from pulling your second stage out of your mouth.

Try it at a safe depth and I hope that I was clearer than mud.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Simple. Hold on to your scuba unit, on your lap or in front of you. You = the scuba unit, as long as you are together, will be aconstant as to buoyancy. I think you are breathing deeper and harder due to the stress of doing the skill, which is adding to your problem. Relax.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Adobo]

Simple. Hold on to your scuba unit, on your lap or in front of you. You = the scuba unit, as long as you are together, will be aconstant as to buoyancy. I think you are breathing deeper and harder due to the stress of doing the skill, which is adding to your problem. Relax.
DivemasterDennis

What is the purpose of having this skill? Is it so you can demo it to students in a pool? Or is it so that you and your students will have the ability to take of the gear in case of something like being entangled on a solo dive?

If it is the latter, how do you know the entanglement will happen at the bottom and not in mid-water? I take it that "on your lap" implies you are at the bottom as opposed to mid-water.

Edit: Never mind. I just saw a video of this being done (sort of) mid water.

 

[CWC]

if you intend to become a "modern" instructor and teach according to the new open water standards then.... with all due respect, "pinned to the bottom like a hopeless noob in the hope that you don't tip over" isn't the route you want to go; it isn't what you want your students to see and it isn't teaching diving anno 2015.

Can you explain this please? You didn't mention which agency you're talking about, but I'm currently doing a PADI DM class. We're being taught to demo all the skills while negative at the bottom. It felt weird to me at first going back to the "pinned to the bottom" style skills for this class, after having worked so much on good buoyancy and trim. Are you saying that there are newer standards than what I am being taught, that require OW students to perform their skills while hovering?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Oh yes young jedi. There are new stds. Watch the 5thdx videos on you tube to see how skills should be demonstrated. The old pinned to the bottom while very negative is going away.

 

[Adobo]

Oh yes young jedi. There are new stds. Watch the 5thdx videos on you tube to see how skills should be demonstrated. The old pinned to the bottom while very negative is going away.

Is it? Based on what I've seen recently in Monterey and in Hawaii last week, instructors pinned to the bottom demoing skills seems quite alive and well.

 

[redacted]

What is the purpose of having this skill? Is it so you can demo it to students in a pool? Or is it so that you and your students will have the ability to take of the gear in case of something like being entangled on a solo dive?

If it is the latter, how do you know the entanglement will happen at the bottom and not in mid-water? I take it that "on your lap" implies you are at the bottom as opposed to mid-water.

Edit: Never mind. I just saw a video of this being done (sort of) mid water.

I have had to come out of my BCD on a couple occasions. Most often to inspect a bubbling sound behind my head. And there is always the warhammer maneuver with wetsuit.

---------- Post added June 18th, 2015 at 05:08 PM ----------

Is it? Based on what I've seen recently in Monterey and in Hawaii last week, instructors pinned to the bottom demoing skills seems quite alive and well.

Alive, not well.

 

[Subcooled]

The one skill that has me stumped is the removal and replacement of the BC while underwater. Being that my BC has weight pouches as soon as I take it off I am buoyant in my 7mm wet suit and I am gone.

It is equally fun in a drysuit.

So, how do I remove and replace my BC underwater with weight pouches?

You will carry the lead on a weight belt during the demo.

The choice between a weight belt, integrated pockets, or steel doubles depends on your diving. What risks are involved? How do you best avoid them? Shades of gray. Think.

 

[chillyinCanada]

vixtor said:
"There was even a crazier version of this exercise in the past (i think nobody still does it), which required full removal of your equipment and then putting it back on (including the exposure protection if the sea was warm enough to do it). Again, you always kept the weights somehow, and took care of floating parts of equipment. It was just a crazy mess to build up confidence anyway, not something useful"

But I say, this was/is a useful skill for those Warhammer moves.